Important highway projects are underway in Mexico at present. One project is for the Atizapan-Atlacomulco highway. Another key project is for the construction of the highway section linking Mexico City’s outer ring road, the Circuito Exterior Mexiquense, with the new international airport.
The projects are being carried out by Aleatica and the contracts are worth a total of US$1.1 billion.
Of these works, the project to build the Felipe Angeles International Airport (AIFA) has been the subject of much controversy in Mexico. Mexico City’s current international airport has been operating beyond its capacity for some years (prior to the pandemic) and there have been plans for a new airport for some time. To deal with the capacity issue, the previous Mexican Government approved plans for the massive New Mexico City International Airport (NAICM) project.
However, this project was expected to be highly costly due to its scale as well as the challenging conditions at the site and when the current Mexican Government was elected, it was decided that the project was one a country with such high levels of poverty could ill afford and the work was cancelled. Instead, plans were drawn up to revamp a former military airbase to become the AIFA at considerably less cost. Even this project though is not without its detractors.
Meanwhile, the road firm Pinfra has the contract to improve the road linking Armeria and Manzanillo. The project is expected to cost more than $171.6 million and construction is due to commence in October 2021, with completion expected by September 2023.
